Grand Theatre

About

The Grand Theatre was a playhouse in Southampton in Hampshire, England from 1898 until it was demolished in 1960. The Grand Theatre stood on the corner of Windsor Terrace and Civic Centre Road. It was constructed in 1898 but included some 18th-century buildings on its east side. It was designed by the architects William Hope and J. C. Maxwell of Newcastle upon Tyne and was built by Messrs Jenkins & Sons of Southampton in red brick with terracotta dressings in a French Renaissance style. The front entrance was enhanced with a balustrade above and a central tower, at the top of which was a high domed lantern fitted with a purple light. The theatre was owned by Frederick Mouillot and H. H. 'Mackenzie' Morell, who put on productions with their own company with which they toured the provinces. Among the many theatres the two owned was the Swansea Grand Theatre in Swansea. The theatre's dressing rooms had originally been The Weighbridge, the former home of the Aslatt family in the 19th century, which was acquired by the theatre after the death of Henry Poate Aslatt in 1905.

It opened on 5 December 1898 with a performance of The Little Minister by Frederick Harrison; it was performed by the...